Leadership, Architected by Gaudì

A few weeks ago, I was in Barcelona for a business trip, and I carved out one day to visit the city. I wanted to feel, if only for a few hours, the atmosphere of the Ramblas (the typical, animated and often crowded streets that connect Plaça de Catalunya with the harbor) and of the Barri Gòtic (the Gothic quarter). And I just had to see the Sagrada Família.

One my way to the basilica, I was thinking about how he didn’t only build a considerable part of the most famous monuments of the city, he had helped shape the “identity” of Barcelona. That got me started thinking about the relationship between architecture and leadership, since a leader often has to face the challenge of building the identity of a group or an organization.

When I arrived at the Sagrada Família, it was sunset. The sight of the sun’s last bright rays, filtered by the polychrome glass windows, struck me. I’m not an art connoisseur, especially for architecture, but four things remained in my mind, and I think there are four leadership lessons we can learn from Antoni Gaudì. (Part of the plight of being a management professor is that you can’t stop thinking about leadership even when standing inside one of Western Christendom’s great masterpieces.)

Gaudì worked with total commitment to a work he knew he couldn’t complete. He conceived the Sagrada Família as a project that had to engage a lot of generations, just like a medieval cathedral would have done. He was able to conceive a project and a vision that went beyond him — both as an architect, and as a human being. It’s a work of art based on devotion. I ask myself if we are still capable of such projects, and how many leaders, in this moment, could face them.

He worked amid a lot of uncertainty. The Sagrada Família was designed with a trial-and-error process, modifying the project step-by-step, little by little, without a concrete plan. I ask myself if I could begin such a project without the need to be assured by a detailed plan, sustaining the uncertainty of an “always in beta” project. He focused on details and on the big picture. Gaudì dedicated himself, during the forty years he spent conceiving and constructing the Sagrada Família, both to crafting a larger vision (the atmosphere of the basilica, and the meaning to be conveyed by the elements in it) and, to an almost maniacal level, to its construction and the creation of iconographic details. We could say that he continuously switched his attention from the micro details to the macro vision. I ask myself if I’m always able to properly alternate between these two different kinds of thought.

Finally, he approached his life’s work with humility. According to Gaudì’s plan, the highest spire of the church would reach more than 170 meters high with a cross placed on top. But the total height would have to be one meter less than the Montjuïc, the hill in the southern part of the city, because Gaudì was convinced his work shouldn’t be taller than God’s.

I know these ideas don’t give a ready-to-use recipe for developing our leadership skills, however, I hope they can inspire you as Gaudì inspired me. If so, please, share your comments.

Luca Baiguini is Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Personal Development at MIP — Politecnico di Milano, and co-founder of Mindpoint, an international training company. His research interests include: persuasion strategies, public speaking, the relation between communication about time and team performance, communication about occupational hazard. Follow Luca on Twitter @lucabaiguini.